Bursa Malaysia ends lower, KLCI down 1.02%

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower on Friday, with the key index falling 1.02 per cent on lack of buying interest as investors digested the Budget 2023 announcements tabled today, as well as on global selldown, said an analyst.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 14.43 points to 1,406.00 from Thursday's close of 1,420.43.

The benchmark index, which opened 1.36 points better at 1,421.79, moved between 1,405.18 and 1,421.90 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing gainers 425 to 291, while 459 counters were unchanged, 1,172 untraded, and seven others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.91 billion units worth RM1.43 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the absence of buying catalysts was due to the jittery market undertone amid the heightened global market risks and volatility.

"The FBM KLCI trended lower on thin volume as investors seemed reluctant to make more significant moves. The market is more heavily influenced by external factors currently," he told Bernama.

Key regional indices were also in negative territory following negative cues from Wall Street overnight as investors were wary over recession risks amid signs of further aggressive central bank policy tightening, he said.

Back home, Maybank went down two sen to RM8.65, Petronas Chemicals declined seven sen to RM8.57, CIMB eased one sen to RM5.25, and IHH Healthcare narrowed five sen to RM5.76, while Public Bank gained one sen to RM4.26.

Of the actives, Top Glove weakened three sen to 64.5 sen, Serba Dinamik edged down half-a-sen to 1.5 sen and Citaglobal trimmed two sen to 25.5 sen, while MY E.G. added half-a-sen to 91 sen and MMAG Holdings was flat at 2.5 sen. - Bernama